1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an installation for the continuous heat treatment of foodstuff material under atmospheric pressure for finishing and/or dewatering said material through contact with a liquid heat carrier, preferably water, the installation comprising a housing having an inlet and an outlet for the material to be treated and including a series of treatment zones; an endless conveyor driven to revolve and traversing the treatment zones successively for conveying the material to be treated through the treatment zones; means for supplying and removing the heat carrier and for conveying the same within the installation; and heat exchange means for controlling the enthalpy (heat content) of the heat carrier.
2. Prior Art
Such installations are used in the industrial preparation of foodstuffs by heat treatment. For example, they are used for finishing all types of cooked sausage, vacuum packed sausage, collectively blister-packed sausage, take-away meals in sealed plastic containers, fish products and the like products, or also for blanching all types of cabbage and bulb and tuber vegetables.
The temperature control is of decisive influence on the economical operation of such installations, which influence is also of preeminent importance with respect to maintaining the quality of the material to be treated, particularly as punctiform overheating of the material to be treated has a serious quality-reducing effect thereon. Therefore, particular attention has been paid to the temperature control and distribution, and it has been taken care that a temperature as uniform and as precisely controlled as possible prevails throughout the water bath.
This procedure is disadvantageous in many respects. Thus, in finishing processes, it is in most cases desired to obtain a homogeneous temperature distribution in the material to be finished, so that the temperature acting on all parts of the cross-section does not significantly differ from the temperature found to be favourable, e.g. in nutrition-physiological and sensory respect. However, for supposed economical reasons, a much higher temperature than this is normally used with the aim of obtaining the desired core temperature more rapidly, i.e. to achieve a higher throughput due to shorter transit times. However, this is linked with the risk of the material being finished being overheated in its marginal zones before the core temperature has reached the desired value. Apart from the quality reduction mentioned in this connection, this handling, particularly in the case of sensitive packing casings, e.g. sausages with casings made from predetermined intestine qualities, leads to a higher splitting rate during the heat treatment as a result of the increased tensions which, consequently, occur in the product. In addition, the energy balance is not favourable, inter alia due to the heat losses which increase exponentially with the temperature.
3. Objects of the Invention
It is therefore an essential object of the present invention to suggest an installation or apparatus for finishing and/or dewatering foodstuffs by a continuous heat treatment, which allows such treatment whilst taking optimum care of the nutrition-physiological and sensory requirements. It is a further important object of the invention to perform such treatment at minimum operational costs. It is yet another major object of the invention to adapt the operational conditions simultaneously and in a universal manner to the requirements and particularities of the respective material which is to be treated, i.e. to varying conditions and compositions of such material to be processed.